Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for service management in information processing apparatuses that are capable of cooperating with an external service via a network.
Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been developed an environment that allows an image processing apparatus, which is an example of an information processing apparatus, to expand functions of the image processing apparatus by installing an application thereon. Such an application can be prevented from being illegally installed or transferred, generally by managing the application using a license associated with information that identifies image processing apparatuses. In this way, the method of managing an application using a license can prevent an application that has been previously installed on an image processing apparatus and then has been copied onto another image processing apparatus from normally running.
Furthermore, with the advancement of sophisticated functions of image processing apparatuses, some image processing apparatuses have become equipped with a web browser. This has enabled image processing apparatuses to readily connect to a network.
Moreover, there has been published a technique called Web Intents, which facilitates the cooperation or collaboration between a plurality of applications without the use of a custom application programming interface (API) unique to a web application. It may be considered that the above-mentioned Web Intents technique can be loaded onto a web browser or the like mounted in image processing apparatuses.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-197824 discusses a method in which a main application utilizing an external application stores authentication information and plug-ins of an external service in association with the external application and uses the authentication information to access the external application.
However, in a case where an application running in an image processing apparatus cooperates with an external web application (hereinafter referred to as an “external service”) via a network according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-197824, the conventional management of the application using a license cannot be applied to the cooperation with the external service.
In other words, the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-197824 does not enable the cooperation of an application running in an image processing apparatus, which is an example of an information processing apparatus, with a particular external service to be managed based on a license associated with the image processing apparatus. However, there is a demand to appropriately manage the cooperation between an information processing apparatus and an external service based on a license.